


Paragon Rising

by LeinLacquement



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Action/Adventure, Bounty Hunters, F/M, Romance, Twi'leks
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-06
Updated: 2014-03-06
Packaged: 2018-01-14 18:08:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 13,380
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1275958
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeinLacquement/pseuds/LeinLacquement
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Hawke gets contacted about a bounty that stands to make him a rich man, he eagerly accepts the job. Unsurprisingly, he isn't the only one hoping to claim the reward. While he is more than willing to take on the competition, it turns out that the mysterious circumstances around the target will test how far he is willing to go and who he is willing to become.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Of Sins and Follies

_Why is it that shady dealings always seem to take place in poorly lit places?_   Hawke wondered as he stepped out onto the flight deck.

The bay was dark, and the pulsating lading beacons gave it an eerie glow. The few, flickering low-output lights didn’t do much to brighten up the atmosphere, but they did at least provide enough visibility to make out Vaelin Kosh’s face as the man approached.

When it came down to it, Kosh was a lackey; an errand boy for another man named Narrus, who cut the checks. But Kosh had been the one to contact him, so Hawke resigned himself to tolerating the man, despite his gut instinct to put a blaster bolt in the man’s head and call it a day. That was the nature of the business, though. Good, honest people did not put out the high paying jobs. Pity.

Kosh, of course, didn’t come alone. Behind him trailed a small entourage of stern-faced individuals. Even from a distance, it wasn’t hard to tell they were just hired hands who happened to be handed guns. No doubt their set jaws and clenched teeth were meant to seem gritty and hardened, but Hawke sensed how frayed their nerves really were. Nobody much cared for bounty hunters.

The party sauntered up to Hawke; Kosh wielding a smile that seemed to slither across his face and the band of thugs resting their hands on their blasters and side arms. Hawke ignored Kosh’s greeting and stared at him, then each of the hired guns in turn, unblinkingly. The action had no merit in itself: he wasn’t sizing up the guns or reading their fears, just feeling the level of discomfort rise. Hawke had learned that intimidation was an easy card to play. Setting everyone else off balance was an advantage that cost nearly nothing to gain. Often enough, Hawke’s reputation for being a relentless killer did his work for him, and if that didn’t work, his reputation for being a little crazy would suffice. The truth didn't matter, just peoples perception of it.

After the group seemed sufficiently unsettled, Hawke turned to Kosh with a single word.

“Mark?”

“Yes, well, you see,” Kosh drew a deep breath as if to launch into a formal speech. “It is of a rather delicate nature; there are more detailed instructions to be conveyed when we meet formally tomorrow - ”

That was all Hawke needed to get the point so he walked past Kosh. “Well, welcome to Nar Shaddaa.” Kosh grumbled. “I’ll have my man contact you about arrangements.”

Hawke had to smother a smile as he walked away. He always enjoyed this part of the game. It was a mind game, a series of bluffs and imaginary bets, wagering on who would actually be willing to play when the uglier game began. He wondered who the other potential candidates were this time. For what they were offering to pay, there was certain to be plenty of competition.

Nar Shaddaa was a typical cesspool of a city-planet. Hawke had always loathed the idea of so many people occupying such a small place. A giant city covering a whole moon was bad enough, but then building another on top of that one, then another, and another? On this level of Nar Shaddaa, you could walk for days and never even see the sky. How many layers of steel and concrete could one little moon take?

This particular landing bay was only five levels down, and it already showed the signs of neglect and deterioration that the older levels inevitably wore over time. It could have been far worse though. There were still levels below them that made this one look like a thriving oasis. Still, those floors might have been safer. Folks down there could hardly afford to eat, let alone get their hands on a blaster. Here, it was just slummy enough to attract the dangerous kind. It had cantinas, clubs, dealers of this sort and that, brothels, and even a miniature slave market all just a short ride from where he stood. A poor lure for a legitimate businessman or trader certainly, but for those who had a knack for profiting off of others’ misfortune, it was a gold mine. A natural hive for all sorts of scum and villainy, he mused.

Hawke parked himself in a nearby cantina, figuring it was as good a place to start as any. There really wasn’t any better place to get up to speed on the local happenings, especially if you were willing to part with a few credits. He was curious to know anything about what Kosh or his employer might have lost that they were willing to pay so much to get back, but more importantly, he needed to know who else was in town that might also be looking to take the job.

Bounty hunter had an inspiring ring to it, but few people really understood how true to the point the term was. It was always a hunt. A hunt for information, for a trail, for the mark, but none of that was typically ever hard or dangerous. The dangerous part was the other hunters.

Hawke ordered a drink and asked around a bit. He thought about ordering something to eat, but changed his mind when he couldn’t identify the last thing he saw served to a patron. For the most part, he got the answers he was expecting.

“I don’t pay much mind.”

“A lot of new faces, couldn’t tell you any names.”

“It’s a big city, everyone is a new face to me.”

A few people just shook their heads and declined speaking altogether, especially when he used the name Narrus. Not all too shocking, but unfortunate.

Eventually, a man approached his table and stood, waiting for Hawke to look up from his drink. When he didn’t, the man sat down at the table and began removing his gloves.

“I overheard you asking questions.” If the man assumed that the statement was more likely to warrant a reply then he might have been disappointed when all he got was Hawke’s eyes flicking up from his cup.

However, the man was at ease, confident and sturdy in how he carried himself, so Hawke didn’t bother with the intense stare or the mind games that he normally used to put people off. Instead he casually looked the man over. He was ex-military from his grooming and posture, dressed in similar garb to Kosh’s, though more reserved and cut for ease of movement, and wearing a side arm openly for anyone to see.

“And I take it you have answers?” Hawke asked flatly.

“Of a sort, but only those I have been instructed to give.” The man set his gloves on the table and reached into his pocket. He pulled out a small key card. “You would, of course, have received this earlier, had you not walked off to skulk in a bar as soon as you arrived.”

Hawke mentally smacked his forehead. That would have been a useful thing to get from Kosh. He covered his annoyance with typical hunter arrogance.

“It was a boring speech. And I was planning on finding my own accommodations. Besides, I couldn’t wait to get out into the city. Nar Shaddaa’s bar scene has quite a reputation at this end of the galaxy.”

“I see.” said the man, after a pause just long enough to convey his skepticism. “No, you have lodging for the night at the Vaelin Spire...”

“Of course he would name the building after himself,” Hawke snorted. The man ignored him.

“...where you will be accommodated until you meet with Vaelin Kosh in the morning. The details of your mark are to be conveyed to you then.”

“Hmm, tell me...” Hawke paused for the man’s name.

“Carsul.”

“Tell me, Carsul, how many bounty hunters will Kosh be keeping in his fine home for the night?”

Carsul tensed as if it were a sore point with him. Hawke suspected the man had some sort of security duty related to Kosh. The theory seemed sound.

“Vaelin Kosh plays host to any number of guests on any given night. The numbers vary.”

“I hope he didn’t invite too many emissaries and officials for the bounty hunter sleepover. I think our interests may clash.”

“I’m certain they would,” Carsul said as he stood. He set the key card on the table and began pulling his gloves back on.  “Vaelin Kosh very much enjoys playing host, I wouldn’t keep him waiting long.” And with that, he left Hawke alone at his table.

A tower full of bounty hunters all about to go after the same mark. Seemed like a rather terrible idea...or a very clever one. Most likely some of them would kill each other off before they went after the mark. But what did Kosh gain from that? He only had to pay one person no matter how many went after it, so why would he want to limit the number of bounty hunters pursuing it?

He mulled over the question for a few moments when a woman approached his table. Again he didn’t bother to look up Typically, he could tell more about a person from just below their knees than they could looking at his face. Her shoes, which put comfort first and style second, were well worn, and she fidgeted slightly. Had Hawke actually looked up, he would have also noticed quite plainly that it was a serving girl of the cantina and she was in a bit of a hurry to get him to take his drink.

When he realized this, he apologized reflexively and gestured for her to set it on the table before belatedly remembering...

“Wait, I didn’t order a drink,” he said, eyeing her suspiciously.

“No, it’s from the man over by the bar. The Sullustan.”

The woman walked away hurriedly after that, either to avoid any more questions or just to get on with work.

Hawke took his new drink and made his way over to the bar where he sat down on the empty stool next to the Sullustan. He almost laughed aloud when he finally recognized him. Most Sullustans looked very much alike to him, but the port behind his ear for attaching mods was a pretty solid giveaway.

“Well if it isn’t Gunshy Geneb! I wouldn’t think you’d be throwing in your lot on this bantha ride.”

“Fellow has to make a living,” Geneb said as he took a swallow from his cup.

Hawke couldn’t argue that point, especially when it was Hawke himself that made away with one of the marks Geneb had been about to claim for himself almost a year ago.

Geneb Marhuun was a fair sort of a person, but he was a downright saint compared to most of their peers. Frankly, it was hard to think of him in the same category as the rest of the disreputable characters that made up the bulk of bounty hunters. Geneb was more of a...forceful retriever. His skills as a pilot and a marksmen were second to nearly none, and for that he was respected, but it was also well known that he didn’t like killing and resorted to it only if there was no other choice. Some people assumed he just didn’t have the gall for it. But Hawke knew better.

The last time they met, Hawke made off with the mark that the Sullustan was after. Geneb chased him for nearly two days. It was an intense flight, but in the end, it was rather plain that Geneb was the better pilot. Gunshy Geneb could have shot him down half a dozen times. Yet all Hawke’s ship suffered were a few char marks. In the end, Geneb let him go.

Hawke was so baffled by this that he did a good deal of digging to unearth his story. What he found was quite contrary to what most people believed: Gunshy Geneb wasn’t gun shy at all. On the contrary, he had been a soldier for most of his adult life, and held a record for single man fighter kills. Gunshy Geneb had pulled the trigger that ended more lives than most people would ever be able to claim.

Apparently, he took something from that. Whether it just made him lose the taste for killing, or gave him some kind of criteria to justify it, Hawke had no idea. But he did conclude that Geneb Marhuun’s skills were not to be underestimated, even if his motives remained a mystery.

Hawke nodded in agreement as he raised his glass toward the Sullustan, acknowledging his gift.

“Yeah, I don’t want to try and put you off of this mark or anything, since that wouldn’t be very sporting. But five-hundred grand creds? This one is going to be bloody, one way or another.”

“Most likely,” was all Geneb said before holding up a small key card identical to the one he had been given.

“How many of those do you figure got given out?” Hawke asked, trying to seem more amused than concerned.

“Your guess is as good as mine. How many bounty hunters can you think of that would go for a five hundred thousand credit mark?”

Hawke laughed and shook his head.

“Literally everyone I know, except perhaps the waitress over there, but then again, we just met. Five hundred thousand credits would make up for a lot of lousy tippers.”

Geneb leaned over the bar and looked at the young woman.

“Nope, she seems like she would have the good sense to stay away from that kind of money… and the kind of people that would go chasing it.”

“Yeah,” Hawke mused aloud as his gaze followed Geneb’s. “It’s a shame more people don’t have her good sense.”

The Sullustan drained his cup and rose from his stool.

_“See you at the Spire,” was the last he said as he walked away toward the cantina exit._


	2. One Man's Castle...

 

Kosh’s “Vaelin Spire” started on level five and rose nearly to the outside sky, making it quite huge. It was baffling to think that a lackey like Vaelin Kosh could own all this - whatever he dealt in specifically, it must be paying off well.

Hawke hired an airspeeder to drop him off at the spire. Upon arriving, he was not entirely surprised by the large number of attendees that had gathered to receive him. They were all uniformly dressed and radiated eagerness to serve. Kosh was doing well for himself indeed.

At the head of the group was a familiar face that Hawke wasted no time greeting.

“Carsul, my old friend, you really didn’t have to wait up.”

Carsul was obviously not amused. He fell into step next to Hawke as they made their way through the front entrance and through a grand receiving room to the lifts.

Carsul gestured for Hawke to follow him as he boarded one. The lift shot upward, its clear walls allowing Hawke a glimpse of many of the buildings, halls, and great rooms on the way up, until it finally came to a halt.

“This room is yours for the time being. I will leave you to your preparations and see you tomorrow.” Carsul stated as he stepped out of the lift.

The room was hardly a room by most people’s standards, more like an entire floor. There were no dividers or walls, but it still managed to convey the impression of multiple rooms - a gathering room, a dining room, a bedroom, a bath, and a viewing room; each partitioned only by a change in flooring, style, and decor.

The decor itself was especially noteworthy. In each section was an elaborately decorated female attendant, five of them in all. When Hawke realized they were meant to come with the room, he looked back at Carsul, but the man was paying him no mind and waiting to ride the lift back down.

“Well...this is...spacious.”

All five women were looking at him, though the room was large enough that he couldn’t quite see the Twi’lek in his bed. He made straight for the eating area and started rummaging through the wall cabinets, slightly disappointed to find mostly beverages and snack foods.

“May I help you find something, sir?” a sunny yellow Twi’lek asked. She was beautifully, though rather scantily, adorned in swirling reds and orange that looked like fire against her skin.

Hawke looked over at her when she spoke. She didn’t raise her eyes to meet his, just awaited an answer. He had a hard time reading her face. She wasn’t sad, or afraid, nor was she eager or happy. She was just there.

“I was just looking for something to eat, actually,” he finally replied, giving up on trying to decipher her expression.

“If you can wait just a moment, I would be glad to arrange a meal for you, sir,” the Twi’lek said, still basically talking to the ground.

“Well, that would be great. Don’t go to too much trouble though. Don’t need anything elaborate.”

“Certainly,” she said and she finally began to move, using a small holoscreen to call up a menu and place an order, before setting the low table with cloth and dishes. Her outfit covered little enough as it was, and when she moved, it didn’t even cover what it originally intended. Hawke turned abruptly and made for one of the other rooms.

The room adjacent was decorated in blues and whites and had a very comfortable looking lounge that Hawk decided he would occupy until it was time to eat. He didn’t occupy it long, however, when a blue Twi’lek came to kneel before him.

“Do you wish to be entertained while you wait?”

Hawke swallowed hard. This woman was even less covered than the last one and her physique spoke more of being an athlete than a servant. A dancer would be an obvious guess, but being that there was a white Twi’lek blatantly stationed in his bed, he had a sinking feeling about what “entertain” usually meant to the guests she served. With her cool cerulean skin, she was a dramatic contrast to the yellow Twi’lek, but her expression was the same. It was unsettling, like they didn’t care about...anything, really.

“Listen, no, you don’t have to entertain me. Ugh, what’s your name?”

The Twi’lek looked up for the first time. Her eyes were a stunning green, but they just shone dully.

“Whyn,” was all she said before looking down again.

“Pleasure to meet you Whyn. You can call me Hawke, everyone else does,” he said and tried to smile as reassuringly as possible.

She met his eyes briefly and returned the smallest glimmer of a smile.

“Tell you what, why don’t you go get your friends and bring them over here and we’ll all have something to eat. I’ve got some time to kill and I haven’t had a fresh meal in a while. We’ll have us a dinner party.”

Whyn raised an eyebrow and that glimmer of a smile escaped again. But then she rose and did as he asked, briefly stopping by the yellow Twi’lek girl to notify her to order more food.

“Order your favorite dishes!” Hawke encouraged them. “Kosh will think I have a healthy appetite.” He grinned at the Twi’lek playing hostess. She hesitated for a moment, but evidently the other women weren’t going to turn down a hand picked meal, and soon they were all crowded around her holopad, looking for their preferred foods. Eventually there were three Twi’lek women and two human women sitting around a low table in the dining area, more listening to Hawke talk than actually making conversation. The yellow Twi’lek, Feira, got up and down from her seat as dishes began arriving, and at one point Hawke decided to go get one of the sheets from the bed for the white twi’lek, Ranleou, as she wasn’t really wearing anything at all.

He couldn’t help thinking about all the other bounty hunters that had rooms here for the night. Were all their rooms filled with slave women as well? The thought made him rather angry. Slavery was commonplace here, as it was on several other spaceports and planets he had stopped at. It never seemed to get any easier to tolerate though. It was hard to believe sometimes that civilized systems could let slavery continue. Still, while Nar Shaadaa was certainly a modernized planet, it was hard to think of it as civilized.

“So… a lot of new faces here lately I’m guessing? Any idea as to what all the commotion is about?” he asked when there was a lull in the conversation. They all tensed. Feira and Leslin, one of the humans, both shot glances at Whyn, who had stopped eating and was staring at her plate.

“We don’t really know much about what goes on,” one of the human women said. Chealin, if he recalled her name correctly.

“Well surely there’s some kind of household gossip,” he said. Ranleou shook her head sharply, nearly smacking Whyn with her lekku.

“No. They’re very strict about who we speak to and where we go.” she said. “Anyone who seems too curious ends up sold or...terminated.” Something about the way she said the last word made Hawke suspect she didn’t mean fired from the job.

The topic was clearly making them uncomfortable, so he waved a dismissive hand. “I’m sure Kosh will fill me in on all the important details tomorrow. Now… who’s ready for dessert?”

The dessert sampler was impressive, but the mood of the room had sobered noticeably since he brought up the bounty. He looked around the table watching the five women eating quietly, each one of them a different kind of beauty: Feira was fine boned and dainty, Whyn tall and well built, Ranleou was stunning with her perfectly white skin, dark eyes and dramatic curvature. And the human women were no less beautiful - Chealin was deeply tanned with short red hair, and Leslin reminded him of the women on the last planet he called home. Her ebony hair fell around her pale body like a curtain. It had to be almost as long as she was tall.

They were a sight to make any man’s mouth water, but every time Hawke looked at them, another image came unbidden to his mind instead… a young Zabrak girl with no horns and an expression of pure hopelessness on her face every time he left her. Looking around the table at the women in front of him, he realized they wore the same expression, an expression born of the knowledge that their only freedom lay in death. However nice he was tonight, the very next night they could be ordered to serve someone far crueler than he was kind. His dinner party seemed a very small and meager comfort in comparison.

His seething was interrupted by the sound of blaster fire. Hawke leapt up from the table and lunged for the lift with his blaster in hand, but by the time he had gotten there, the firing had stopped. The lift tube was clear, and through it, he could see the lazy swirl of smoke inside one of the other rooms a few floors below. He had no idea who occupied the room, but whoever it was, they had either been taken out of the running for tomorrow or had reduced the competition themselves.

Hawke looked back into his own room for a moment, thinking to assess its defensible positions when his eyes fell back on the women at the table. All of their eyes were on him, yet they hadn’t moved from the table. They just sat there, perfectly poised. Hawke wondered if they would have even ducked had the fire fight happened in this very room. They really did not care.

The night turned out to be a very long one. Hawke eventually ushered the women into the area meant for the bedroom as it was in an outcropping of the room least likely to get hit by stray shots if there was a fight. The bed was massive and easily fit all five. Even so, they huddled against one another as they slept, undisturbed by the abrupt bouts of random blaster fire on the floors surrounding them. Hawke assumed that when part of you was waiting for death, the fear of it was not such a substantial force.

The night brought Hawke no sleep as he sat behind some overturned tables looking out at the lift. The damn thing ran so smoothly and quietly, it could stop at his very room and let someone off here with barely a sound. So he sat there, watching it all night long, and as his eyelids began to feel weighted, he even shot a stim to make sure that he didn’t get sluggish later into the night.

Several times the lift came past his room. He prepared for it to open onto his floor but it never did. He listened to each bout of blaster fire carefully. Sometimes it was the same blaster, sometimes it was an entirely new one. A few times he wasn’t entirely sure how many gunmen were involved as there were several different guns fired and it seemed to go on and on.

Finally, the sun did rise. Or rather the simulated sun lighting slowly illuminated the building’s interior. They were, after all, still a good distance below the rest of the city. No natural sunlight had gleamed here for hundreds of years.

The lift showed that it was on its way down again from above and Hawke prepared himself again for whatever might emerge if it stopped. This time it began to slow near his floor and then it stopped. The doors opened noiselessly and Hawke readied himself to fire if he didn’t like what he saw, but the first thing that emerged was a pair of familiar dress boots and gloved hands.

It was exactly who the items indicated. Carsul emerged, looking rather put off and tired himself. He was only slightly startled by walking into a barricaded room and having a gun trained on him.

“I take it you had a restful night,” Carsul said, barely masking his annoyance as he walked past the barricade to look around the room and assess the damage.

“It had its pleasant moments, but I wouldn’t exactly call it  restful.”

By this point Carsul had taken notice of the five women in the bed, two of whom had sat up, showing that their skimpy outfits were not well suited to staying in place even when they were resting.

“I see,” he said turning abruptly. “Vaelin Kosh will see you in the grand viewing room now to give you instructions for retrieving your bounty. Come promptly if you would.” He took one final disapproving look at the bedroom before he made his way back to the lift and took it back upward.

Hawke turned his eyes to where Carsul had been staring and almost laughed.

_I like having an impressive reputation, he thought looking at the women curled up under his sheets. But I never really planned on it going in that direction._


	3. Handle With Care

The viewing room was a fancy name for the top floor. But it did have one feature worth mentioning besides its elevation: through the glass ceiling above them you could see the sky. City structures loomed overhead off to the sides, but besides a few skywalks and rail lines nothing was built directly overhead. Still, it wasn’t much of a view for anyone who had ever been on a less compacted planet. Only a smothered haze of sunlight broke through the heavy cloud cover, and even that only served to shine on the numerous sky speeders and vessels going about their business.

Hawke spared a moment to take in the view, though it was only a brief one as the view wasn’t all that inspiring and he needed to get to work anyway. He made his way to the edge of the circular room where he could comfortably put his back against the wall and see everyone who was attending.

Kosh looked quite smug behind a podium at the far end of the room. Doubtless, he must have thought himself a grand sight with his back to the glass and lit at least partially by the natural light. It made Hawke wonder if anyone else was actually impressed: this audience wasn’t the sort to stand on ceremony.

Kosh may have set himself up to be the center of attention, but the bounty hunters in attendance were focused on anything but their host. They were too busy evaluating one another.

Some of them did it subtly, looking at their competition when their attention was elsewhere or out of the corner of their eyes. Others did it blatantly and made the act as aggressive and threatening as possible. One way or another, when it came down to it, they all were trying to get an edge, and knowing your opponent was the only advantage up for grabs at the moment.

Hawke scanned the crowd, doing all he could not to blink or avert his eyes when he made eye contact with someone.  He set his expression in a mocking grin. It was a face he defaulted to, and since it meant nothing, it was impossible to read. Nervous, angry, afraid, pleased, his expression never changed when he was in work mode.

He saw more familiar faces than he was entirely happy about. There was Bak and Ragnar, the Trandoshan pair that he seemed to keep running into lately. Hawke had beaten them to the punch more than once in the past few years, and judging by how they seemed to bristle when he waved, they hadn’t forgotten.

A band of ex-military looking fellows all stood together at the far end of the room. They must have been the guns for hire out of Corellia that he kept hearing about. Defectors, out plying the only trade they were taught.

The Rodian was a new face, at least new to Hawke. The guy looked like he had seen a good deal of action from the well worn gear to his well worn skin. He didn’t give Hawke the impression of someone who was new to the business. If nothing else, the blood on his shirt and pants leg was enough to make Hawke wary of him. It looked fresh, and if it was, it would explain some of the blaster firing from the night before.Thinking of all that had transpired over the night made Hawke wonder how many others were planning on attending this meeting that just didn’t make it.

He was at least glad to see that Geneb Marhuun had made it through the night in one piece. Not that he was really surprised. Anyone who had taken even a little time to read up on the old soldier would most likely think twice about getting in a blaster fight with him.

It was almost like a convention for killers and lowlifes. It was a shame they couldn’t just open a bar and swap old stories of theft, murder, and slaving. Alas, bounty hunters weren’t exactly the social sort and the only thing that brought them together like this was the possibility of being paid.

Just as Hawke had finished sizing up the competition, a latecomer joined the gathering. It was a face Hawke could have gone a Croke’s lifetime without seeing again.

Tarjas Kleyn walked into the room as if the whole place had been waiting for his arrival. He came to a halt about midway into the viewing room and folded his arms as if to say “I’m here now, you may begin.” He set his jaw and waited, looking for the most part bored above anything else.

From just looking at him, anyone else in the room would think he was disinterested in the rest of the attendees, but Hawke knew better. Tarjas may have seemed to pay no mind to anyone, but he was a Sakiyan, their senses were unlike any other species he had encountered.

There was an old joke that the eyes on the back of a Sakiyan’s head were bigger than the ones on the front. Hawke didn’t find it an especially funny joke, but the basis for it was solid enough. The species’ peripheral vision went well around to partially reveal their backsides and it was a clear vision at that, not the out of focus version most species had.

Sakiyans were tremendously perceptive in most ways in fact,-- sight, smell, hearing. Most people seemed to attribute it all to them having such large brains. Apparently the part of the brain that was used for sensory functions was over twice the size of a human’s. Just because Tarjas didn’t bother to look at Hawke or anyone else didn’t at all mean that the malicious bounty hunter didn’t see them.

Hawke’s last run in with the Sakiyan had proved that, on many physical levels, Tarjas outmatched him. But bounty hunting had a strange way of changing the game on you. You can be stronger, faster, have a better shot and be more savvy on the yoke and still end up a smoking crater if you don’t bend when the rules change. And then of course, who caught the luck was always a wildcard.

It took a few moments, but eventually Kosh cleared his throat a few times and began to speak. Everyone quieted down to hear him, giving them the illusion of being orderly when they really were just hungry to find out what was worth so much money.

“I’m sure everyone is quite curious as to the odd circumstances surrounding this particular task.” Kosh raised his hands in a warding fashion. He had obviously rehearsed this more than a few times.

“Let me assure you that the delicate nature of the assignment warrants its secrecy.”Hawke leisurely pressed a small button on his wrist link that started a 360 degree recording of the room. He didn’t want to miss anything from Kosh’s speech or the reactions that his competition might have to it.

“Up until a few days ago individuals from our organization have been working with some of the greatest minds from the Gaelfree Institute. What they were trying to achieve is not relevant to your task, except that their success resides within a test subject that has subsequently gone missing.”

Kosh touched a control on his podium and a very large holographic image appeared at its side. There were murmurs and a few smothered gasps among the crowd as she was displayed.

It was difficult to tell whether she was tall or short being that the hologram was a good twelve feet tall so everyone could see easily. But what was unmistakable was that she was beautiful. Enough that Hawke forgot the questions he was forming in his mind to answer about this “test subject” and what exactly was being tested. For a moment, he was just happy to be looking at the lovely Twi’lek.

She was a soft purple color, lavender really, with long and well defined legs that ended in pointed toes where she stood as if she were ready to spring weightlessly into the air. Her hips were curved but banded slightly with the muscle that spoke of a fine tuned physical capability. From there her waist dropped in sharply to the groove of taut muscle that spanned her stomach. She wore modest trappings in the image compared to the other Twi’leks he had seen in the tower. Just matching shorts and midriff top, both black and looking as if they were designed with athletics in mind rather than any kind of aesthetics.

Hawke scanned the hologram from foot to face once, and as pleasing as the whole image was, it was her face that captivated him. It was angular, and beautiful, a perfect complement to her stunning physique. But her eyes stood out to him. They were wide and bewildered and tinged with fear. The expression was a sharp contrast to the rest of the image.

It took a few moments, but eventually Hawke realized he wasn’t exactly focusing on the key elements of what he had come to accomplish. He silently laughed at himself for being terrible at sitting through lectures and presentations and was quite happy with himself for recording the whole thing.

“If she has been indeed stolen, the fate of her abductors is of no concern. Deal with them however you wish. It is of the utmost importance,” Kosh continued, “that she be brought back in a timely manner and is not injured or befouled in any way.” He looked pointedly at the hunters. “For the CS-11 strand, nineteen years of labor and research is contained not on her, but within her person.”

At that, Hawke was sure he had missed something, but everyone was starting to stir and Kosh was getting down from his podium so the briefing was apparently over.

_Stolen, hah. She’s a slave. What reason would she have to NOT try and run away._

Hawke looked up at the image of the girl one last time. He had never taken a job that had him running down slaves. The only time he had tracked a slave was when he was being paid to hunt a thieving slaver. Subsequently, the particular slave involved managed to get away. The whole concept of this job suddenly sat ill with him.

_What does it matter? With eleven billion slaves in this galaxy, what’s one more? Besides, with a 500,000 credit bounty out there, she’ll be back in less than a week. It may as well be me that collects._

Hawke was just about to make his way to the exit when he saw Carsul approaching him with something in his hand.

“Quite the exciting presentation,” Hawke said as Carsul came to stand before him.

Carsul scowled, though it seemed like a comfortable and normal expression for him more than a display of any kind of disapproval.

“I’m certain you were riveted,” he replied extending the item in his hand. It seemed to be some sort of data disc. Hawke took it and raised an eyebrow.

“It contains all the specifics you would need to know. The target’s height, weight, biometrics if you wish to attempt to scan for her.”

“Ahh,” Hawke waved his hand dismissively. “Scanning for her will only turn up a few thousand prospects I’d have to run down. I prefer the old fashioned way myself.” There was a pause indicating that Carsul wasn’t exactly sure what the old fashioned way was.

“I look,” Hawke filled in after the the brief silence.

“Well best of luck,” Carsul concluded, then turned to leave.

“Is there anything about what’s inside the woman that we are being exposed to?”

Carsul halted mid stride.

“Everything that you will be needing to know is on the disc, yes.”

“Huh, seems Kosh, or Narrus rather, is poking his fingers into all sorts of new things these days. He had better be careful... oh what’s that saying? Reach exceeding your grasp, or something like that?”

Carsul’s jaw tightened. “I find it generally wiser not to ask questions.”

“That works until you find yourself playing the delivery boy of a walking airborne plague container that kills whoever she breathes on or something.”

The statement was a random probe for information, one he didn’t think would get much of a reaction, especially from someone as controlled as Carsul. But at the mention of the target carrying the plague the man glanced around and took a step closer to Hawke so he could speak quietly.

“She has lived here in this tower for seventeen years and I have personally interacted with her countless times. If such minimal contact was enough to kill a person we would know all too well of it by now.”

“All right, all right, captain, cool your engines there. No need to jump to attention and defend the target’s honor or anything.”

Were Carsul’s buttons really this easy? He was nearly blushing and looked quite agitated.

“Just go over the disk. If you have any questions beyond the information there you may contact me, though I can not promise to be able to answer all of your questions. Again, good luck.” He gave a nod and a rigid about face before leaving. He was apparently more invested in this mission than Hawke would have guessed. As head of security, it probably didn’t reflect well on him that a slave - test subject, Hawke mentally corrected himself - had likely escaped.

“Luck?” Hawke called after him. “She’s a runaway, she probably hasn’t even made it out of this quarter of the city yet.”

Hawke made his way from the viewing room giving a wave to Geneb on the way out. The tower certainly seemed bigger when traveling from the very top floor all the way to the exit. The lift ride went on especially long. But when the lift door opened on the ground floor he saw another familiar face. It was Whyn, the blue twi’lek from the night before.

“Hello, Whyn,” Hawke said as he was passing. She looked surprised to hear her name and looked up at him. She immediately looked back down but smiled a little when she did.

“Hello,” she said softly. For a moment it seemed like she might say something else, but then she just gave him a nod.

Hawke looked back as he reached the exit to watch her disappear around a corner still wearing her little smile.

_Sometimes it’s just the little things,_ he thought as he stepped back out onto the harsh streets of Nar Shaddaa.


	4. The Hunting

As eager as Hawke was to go over the details on the data disc, he knew that every moment of the early game was precious. Find her first, figure out just exactly what he was getting into later. No way that plan could go wrong, right?

He made it back to his ship with less interruption than he anticipated. He genuinely expected to be ambushed by the opposition or hired guns meant to slow him down, but as he boarded, an explanation occurred to him: they could likely be watching him, hoping that he would lead them to the target faster than they could find her, and then take her from him by force.

Come to think of it, that was probably the exact thing Kosh was trying to avoid by having all the bounty hunters stay under one roof. He got the bitter rivals to kill each other off ahead of time, making the actual hunt for the Twi’lek less risky, at least for the target. Perhaps Kosh wasn’t as witless as he had assumed.

“Kylsa, are you online?” Hawke asked as the loading ramp closed behind him. The lights in the cargo bay flickered to life and the sound of generators spinning up filled the large, empty hold.

“All systems operating nominally, power levels charged and sustained at 94 percent,” an automated female voice reported over the coms.

“Warm up the engines, we’ll be leaving soon.”

“Destination?” Kylsa queried.

“I’ll let you know when I figure it out.”

Hawke made his way in a few short strides from the cargo hold, through the interior shaft, and into a room he thought of as the staging room. It was where he did most of his research and planning. He had a digitized reference program that he had updated on almost every planet he had ever visited, giving him a vast source of information on species, planets, histories, and cultures,  as well as links to several on-world data storage cells. He even had a tap into a Omwati research facility on Coruscant that kept him up to speed on some pretty cutting edge tidbits. In this case, he needed very little of his fancy gadgetry to find what he needed.

Hunting people was no harder than hunting anything else: To be successful, you had to understand what you were hunting. In this case, Hawke might not have known this Twi’lek personally, but knowing where she came from and how she lived was really enough. Mix that with a little human nature, which really wasn’t much different than Twi’lek nature, and she was a rather predictable prey.

“She would go to a nearby spaceport for time’s sake. The threat of her being recognized and captured would seem more imminent having just fled.” The first thing he pulled up were the departure schedules for every spacedock within ten miles of the Vaelin Tower.

“If she knew she was important to Kosh, she would try to flee offworld,” he said. The holotable displayed a grid of the nearby systems with all the departure times from the last few days up until tomorrow. Hawke was quite grateful to the Internal Shaddarian Import Agency for keeping such thorough and up-to-date records. “We’ll assume she did know, or more likely, just found out, as something spurred her to run now.”

Hawke eyed the systems displayed, sorting them in his mind into different probabilities.

“Narrus has influence in these three systems and might as well own these two planets.” Hawke swiped away at the hologram and the flight information for those systems vanished.

“Let’s assume she knows that much and narrow it down some.”

More labels fell off the hologram with the wave of his hand.

“The question of means, though...that is a tough one.” Hawke rubbed the stubble on his face and took note that he needed to shave as he pondered. “How does a penniless slave make ship fare?”

The question had a few obvious immoral answers, but you would have to be a fool on Nar Shadaah to help a creditless Twi’lek off world. This culture didn’t look very kindly on those who would aid fugitive slaves, and made examples of enough people that there were likely not many more people willing to risk it.

“She either stowed away, which would mean that it would have to be a low budget, independent freightship,” he tapped three labels on the screen. Each displayed more information causing Hawle to frown. They were all going to nearby planets, each closely affiliated with Narrus. “Well, it was unlikely anyway.”

He stared through the hologram and contemplated her options. Honestly, it was more of a surprise that she hadn’t been caught already. Slave escapes were notoriously unsuccessful - they had too few connections, too little street savvy, and nowhere near enough money. Generally the only times bounty hunters got called in were when slaves went missing because they’d been stolen. And yet this girl, who had lived almost her entire life as a lab specimen in a tower, had eluded Kosh’s forces and baffled Kosh to the point where he was willing to organize this massive manhunt for her. Which meant...

“Or ...she had help.” A grin crept across Hawke’s face. He thought back to how the head of security had spoken of her, almost like he was defending her. “Carsul, you sneaky old grunt.”

It was a long shot, but Hawke started to bring up the larger offworld vessels. A passenger vessel wouldn’t do, they were too formal and kept records and had ID checks. A freightliner was more likely, but it would have to be a crew willing to be a bit shady, and one that was either ignorant of the risks or just plain not planning on ever coming back here. Of course there was always the possibility that someone was just plain stupid, but that was hard to plan for.

Hawke was just about to start over when a ship name seemed to jump out to him: the Glimmer. He almost laughed to himself as he looked at their arrival and departure details. They apparently came, dropped three unspecified containers designated only as “personal effects” on the registry, and then departed with a load of workers and industrial and agricultural equipment to the planet Tol Amn.

The Glimmer was a freightliner first and foremost, but Hawke had seen her crew on Denon once running like hell to get her unloaded before the authorities had time to inspect her. As he recalled, the Glimmer made it away, but with a few blaster burns to show for it.

Tol Amn was an ideal planet, small, unimportant, and generally uninformed. Not to mention it was as near to the Inner Rim as you could get and still be in Hutt Space, and The Glimmer’s crew were just shady enough to take on an extra Twi’lek runaway for a quick payout. Hawke scanned over the rest of the departure details.

“Seems she has about a three day head start. I think we can make up most of that in travel time.”

Hawke made his way to the bridge, feeling rather smug.

“Kylsa, get us under way to Tol Amn.”

He sat down at the helm, though he was more than happy to let the automated pilot do the flying. Still, he liked to watch the scenery go by as they departed. He settled in and divided his attention between the view and the information he was scanning on the data disk that Carsul had given him. The hunting part didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a challenge, so naturally he began to grow more wary about the other aspects of his task.

All he knew was that she was carrying something in her blood that they wanted back. That alone had a multitude of possibilities. It could be anything from cloned immuno-toughening organisms to full out planet killing blood born pathogens. He doubted the information provided would be too specific on the point. Either way, he had a while before they would catch up to her, plenty of time for some light reading.

The Smuggler’s moon steadily became smaller as Hawke’s ship moved further from it and finally out of its orbit. The sound of the hyperspace drive started winding up, and suddenly, the only view beyond the cockpit  was a spacial haze. Hawke looked up to admire the swirl of colors and light for a moment before he dragged his eyes back down to the data disc.

“Hmm,” Hawke mused out loud to his AI.

“A wealth of information here, and most of it is pretty useless.” He leaned back in his chair and the screen expanded for him to read at the greater distance.

“Height: five foot six, weight: 123lbs, skin color: light purple/lavender...” he rattled off one fact after the next, half committing them to memory and half conversing with the only companion he had, an AI system.

“Eye color: violet, diet, activities she excels in, color garb she prefers... wait, languages: none. How do you have “none” for a language? Even slaves and test subjects have to communicate, right?”

“The need for a slave, of any variety, to communicate at some point over the course of their lifespan seems most probable.”

“Exactly.”

Hawke looked over the material a second time before putting it away. Nothing included seem particularly threatening except the part where it described the contact with any of the Twi’lek’s bodily fluids as “ill advised” and “producing unpredictable results”. It all seemed rather cut and dry. Catch girl, bring her back before other bounty hunters figure out where she is, and don’t let her spit on anyone.

He was more or less satisfied with this plan. Sure, he felt like he didn’t have all the answers, but sometimes the easy solution for that nagging feeling was to just not ask the questions.

Then it dawned on him, what the the report was missing. He had her respiratory and cardiac ratings at different stress levels, the different forms of dance she was instructed in, her daily cardiac exercise routines, he even knew that Garsian Cream covered Jyir Fruit was her favorite food. (Though he had no idea what a Jyir fruit even looked like.) All of this, and the report didn’t even include the girl’s name.


	5. Two Steps Forward, One Stumble Back

Tol Amn was a rather dreary place. It was constantly cloudy and generally rained several times a day making “wet” the theme for anything and everything that occupied the planet.

Hawke’s ship touched down lightly, even with the bad visibility and downpour that was taking place. For being as underdeveloped as it was, Tol Amn still had a relatively large population scattered across the planet, and quite a few ship docks to boot. They were spread out, as most of the surrounding areas were agricultural, but a decent number of cities had sprung up around trade and export.

Jaelmoore was one such city, a large center for on world trading and off world exporting, and home to the governing bodies of the planet. Most of the offworld traffic that came through Tol Amn used Jaelmoore as a dock, if for no other reason than it had a respectable amount of tech and resource that the common freightliner would need for anything related to maintaining a ship. After all, no one in their right mind would want to touch down at a place where you might not even be able to buy fuel. If the Glimmer was dropping off cargo on Tol Amn, it was a good bet that Jaelmoore would be their destination.

Hawke had only taken a few steps out on to the flight deck when he adopted Tol Amn’s theme and was soaked to the core. He ran to the nearby service station where the overhang blocked the rain and was greeted by a man behind a wire mesh screen.

“Hello, and welcome to Jaelmoore. Standard holding fee to dock your ship then pay by the day.”

“That’s fine,” Hawke replied as he entered in his credit key. He always liked stopping at smaller planets like this. You could dock a ship and live for a month on what it would cost you to live for a day on some of the overgrown city planets.

“I won’t be staying long, I don’t imagine.” Hawke nodded thanks to the man and began to walk away when he turned back as if he had an afterthought.

“Oh, hey. You wouldn’t know if the Glimmer has arrived yet would you? I’m supposed to be swapping some cargo with them before I head back out.”

The man behind the screen slid forward with a “hmm” and pulled up some kind of chart in front of him.

“Looks like they just beat you here, arrived this morning. They took a spot at C deck where the larger freighters dock.” He leaned forward and pointed to his right. “Elevator up one floor, then take the north corridor. You should start seeing signs for it after a few hundred yards.”

“Thanks, have a good one,” Hawke said, and made his way to the elevator. It seemed he wasn’t far off the trail, that is, if it was even the right trail. As he grew closer he began having doubts. What were the chances it would actually be this easy?

Hawke took the elevator and made his way over to C deck, which didn’t really look all that different than where he had docked, a bit more spacious perhaps. It was mostly a series of platforms connected by steel grated catwalks, with just a few concrete storage areas here and there. Traversing it made Hawke notice the increased gravity on the planet, of course it didn’t help that off the catwalk he could look several stories down to other landing platforms and more crisscross catwalks. He had never thought of himself as afraid of heights, but this would take anyone a bit to get used to entirely. At least the rain had stopped.

The Glimmer was easy to spot from the catwalk just below him. C deck looked to have eight or ten landing platforms, but really, how many Perlemian heavy freight cruisers were you going to find on an unimportant little planet like this one?

The catwalk came to a set of grated stairs that he followed down to the landing platform. He watched the ship and its surroundings intently as he descended. No one made themselves seen. The ship was obviously powered down, and from the smell in the air, had recently been refueled. He walked one cautious, yet hopefully inconspicuous lap around the Glimmer until he came to the tail hatch. He tried the controls but they were locked. He thought about slicing it, but decided to wait until he had ruled out all other options.

Besides the stairway from where he had come, there were only two other ways off the platform. One was a large freight elevator right behind the tail hatch, and the other was  a door on the far end of the platform. The elevator, no doubt, lead to the ground level. If they had gone that way they had most likely gone out into the city and would be difficult to track down. But with the size crew a ship like the Glimmer would require, someone was bound to be left behind with the ship.

Hawke decided to check the door first, but he had only crossed about half the distance to it when the door opened and a man’s back was revealed. A lucky break really. Hawke didn’t have to decide whether to shoot the man, wave at him, or run for his life. Instead he just slowed to a quiet walk and let the man back toward him.

The man was greasy and oil stained from hair to britches, or at least from what Hawke could see. He backpedaled wheeling a dolly cart stacked high with metal crates, most likely supplies or maintenance materials. Hawke began to get the impression that the man was some kind of mechanic.

“Quite a ship you have here, and far from home judging by it’s make.”

Hawke didn’t speak up till the man was a mere six or eight feet from him causing him to start and whirl around to face him. His eyes darted from Hawke’s face to the blaster on his hip to the second blaster on his opposite thigh.

“Great Grendel! You about gave me a heart attack,” he said as he reached back to steady his shifting load. “What can I do for you, stranger?”

“I’m not sure if you are aware, but your ship apparently picked up some illegal merchandise on Nar Shaddaa. I was simply dispatched to retrieve it.”

The man’s eyes widened and they flicked quickly back down to Hawke’s hands, perhaps to assure himself that they weren’t any closer to one of his weapons.

“I assure you, I know nothing of any illegal merchandise. Heck I don’t even really know what half the stuff we delivered was. I just do repair work and upkeep. I don’t know anything.”

“Calm down buddy,” Hawke said reassuringly. “I’m not here to start a ruckus if I can help it. Where’s the rest of the crew?”

The mechanic hesitated for a moment, but then must have decided he could divulge more without turning traitor.

“I couldn’t say exactly. They headed down to the city. Going about their own business while we have down time ya know?”

And there was an easy angle to work.

“So they left you alone with the ship huh?”

The mechanic’s face fell.

“Listen I’ll help you any way that I can. I’m not trying to be difficult. I don’t know much but if you tell me what you are looking for I could at least tell you if I’ve seen anything like it.”

Hawke unfolded his arms and let a hand rest on the blaster grip in his hip holster. The man watched his hand nervously.

“You took on a passenger.” Hawke paused until the man looked back up at him.

“Ye, yes. We took on several. Ugh... there was a family of four I think and... a Rhodian.... ugh.

“A Twi’lek girl. About this tall.” Hawke raised his hand to about his neck. The man’s eye’s widened in what seemed like excitement. “Light purple skin,” Hawke continued but was interrupted before he could add more.

“Yes! Yes, I’m sure we did. She was the last one on. I remember her because she kept pulling a grey shawl of some sort over her face. But she was definitely purple and was about that tall I believe.”

The man’s face looked quite pleased and relieved, though he waited expectantly, most likely to be told he could go about his business.

“And did you see where she went?”

The mechanic’s look of relief fell away as he apparently was lacking of any more usefulness.

“I... I didn’t see. I wasn’t with the passengers.”

Hawke drummed his fingers on the holster and thought he actually heard the poor man swallow.

“all right. Thanks for the help. Now let me help you.”

Hawke took his hand off his holster and took a few steps toward the mechanic. The man shied away as far as he could but his back was against the dolley that he had been wheeling so he couldn’t go far.

“There are at least half a dozen bounty hunters looking for this girl and while I don’t feel the need to be covering my tracks as of yet. If anyone else comes asking, and finds out you know something, they will most likely kill all of you to keep you from telling anyone else who might be following behind them. Understand?”

The mechanic nodded vigorously.

“Good.” Hawke turned and began his way toward the elevator. “I suggest you get ahold of your buddies and get the hell off this planet before anyone else tracks you here,” he called over his shoulder as he left.

She was here. She had to be. The trail was as warm as it could get. He called the elevator from the terminal and its hydraulics whirled to life. He would have to start searching the city. Whoever set this up seemed to have it all planned out pretty well. She might have a contact or a meeting somewhere. If she were a normal runaway, he would just expect her to randomly jump from one ship to the next. But she was something special, worth a good deal of money to someone. And that someone was going to a lot of trouble to make her disappear. She would have to have a destination, somewhere safe. Or someone safe. A contact of some kind.

“Oh, come on.” The elevator was designed to move a massive amount of weight, but wasn’t designed to do it quickly.

“You lose something fella?” A light voice called down to him.

Hawke whipped his head up to see a kid leaning against the catwalk rail at the top of the stairs where he had originally come from. It was quite a relief to let go of his blaster. So far luck was with him and he hadn’t needed to use it, and he didn’t feel that this kid was going to disrupt that trend.

After a moment he realised the kid had asked him a question.

“No, I don’t think so.”

“Oh come on now. You were just asking about her. About this tall, purple skin, violet blue eyes.”

That got Hawke’s attention. He hadn’t mentioned anything about the girl’s eye color.

“And you saw her?” Hawke instantly realised that was a stupid question. After taking another look at the kid he took better note of his apparel. He was dressed in a pretty raggedy ensemble, the most notable of his trappings being the scarf wrapped around his head. Not like a bandana or anything decorative, but around his eyes. The kid seemed to be trying to portray that he was blind. But if that were the case, how would he know her eyes were violet-blue? Obviously the kid was trying to play him.

“Well I can’t so honestly say I saw her now can I?” he said with a wide grin. But with the right motivation, I believe I could help you find your way.”

The elevator finally arrived, but it’s doors opened and closed again without it’s intended passanger. Hawke made his way up the stairs to stand next to the boy. He might have been ten or twelve, but he seemed pretty street smart for such an age.

“And what’s to say I don’t just beat what I need to know out of you kid?”

“Well, for one beaten information is like anything else beaten. It’s damaged, not worth much. And secondly, you seem like a reasonable man. I have a reasonable amount of information, and I only want a reasonable amount of creds. Seems like we should be able to make some kind of exchange that makes us both reasonably happy, yes?”

The kid was smug, cocky, and sarcastic. Hawke instantly took a liking to him. He handed him a credit chip, fifty credits, not a bad sum for a day’s work.

“Hmm,” the kid almost sighed as he turned the chip over in his hand and made it disappear into a inner pocket.

“The ship you see there got here a bit more than four hours ago. Your Twi’lek friend disembarked with several other people and seemed a little lost at first, looking around a lot. She was looking for something or someone but obviously didn’t find it. She eventually came up these very stairs and headed off that away.”

It was thin, but if the kid was telling the truth, that meant she was still at the docking tower, or at least didn’t leave it on this side. Certainly thin, but as good a place to start as any.

“Thanks kid,” Hawke said as he reached down and tousled his hair some. The kid didn’t look very amused. Hawke began down the direction the boy had pointed when he stopped with an afterthought.

“Oh, and for your own good, don’t....”

“I know, I know. Don’t tell the other half dozen bounty hunters cuz they will kill me to cover up the trail, I heard you tell the other fella.”

Hawke was a little surprised. The stairs were a good fifty yards from where he was talking to the mechanic. How could he have heard?

“You know,” the boy continued. “I bet if I could remember anything else about where the girl went it would be a big help to you.” A grin went creeping across half the kid’s face.

Hawke glared at him, but pulled out another fifty and began to walk back to hand it to him when he stopped and flashed his own grin. Instead of handing it to him, he flicked it end over end to him him. The boy reached out and snached the chip in his hand without turning his head to look at it. Hawke almost laughed. The boy was a Miraluka.

The boy’s smile only widened.

“She went down that way, like I said. She was checking the different landing pads. Still must not have found what she was looking for though, cuz she went up another flight, checked all those, then went up another.”

She was looking for a ship! A specific one. Hawke turned to pursue but stopped as an afterthought.

“Is there anything else I should know?”

“Hmm...” the kid mumbled to himself and smiled. Then he began scratching his head with the credit chip that had previously disappeared into a pocket.

Hawke couldn’t even really be annoyed. The kid was working him pretty well. He was about to toss him another fifty when the kid stopped him.

“Ah, ah, ah... I feel this information may be a bit more... weighty.”

Hawke growled slightly under his breath.

“Even I run out of patience kid.”

“I’ll do my best to be quick and thorough.”

Hawke flipped him a hundred this time which seemed to disappear even faster than the others.

“She looked like she was getting desperate after a while and stopped to ask a few different people for directions or something. They didn’t seem to understand her and she would eventually run off each time after trying. This got the attention of the security after a while, and as you can imagine. Running from the security personnel is a sure way to get yourself chased.”

Hawke’s eyes widened. If she was in custody this was going to get a good deal more complicated.

“Did they catch her?”

“I couldn’t say, and that’s not the money talking. She gave them a good run from what I saw, and they have extra security personnel on E deck covering the exits and lifts. I think I would start there if I were you.”

Hawke left at a trot making his way across the catwalks to the next set of steel grated steps going up. He didn’t want to take the time waiting on the absurdly slow lift, though for the distance he had to run it might have been quicker. He climbed the steps three at a time, which finally left him on D deck, and was about to climb the next set to E deck when he looked up to see the security gaurds that the Miraluka boy had mentioned.

There were three of them, though Hawke obviously had the element of surprise. But he didn’t have much other option than to kill them all in cold blood to get past them. It was one of those moral impasses that he struggled with. If a person was fool enough to get into this kind of business then, in Hawke’s mind, they owned the risks and the repercussions. He’d made peace with that concept a long time ago, but he hated when people who weren’t even involved got hurt.

Just as he was weighing his options, he noticed something moving in the distance. It was moving at an impressive speed and as it got closer, Hawke found himself stunned in sheer disbelief. A grey cloak whipped out behind the the Twi’lek girl, who was running like a mynok out of a space slug’s maw, while a good way behind her were her pursuers, a band of security personnel like the ones waiting at the top of the stairs.

Hawke watched the scene, stunned, not able to think of a course of action. During his hesitation, however, the guards above him heard her coming and left the stairway to trap her on the catwalk. The girl pulled up short upon seeing them and whipped her head back and forth, sizing up one group, then the other. Three men from one direction, four from the other. She had nowhere to go.

It was at that moment that she proved herself to be no ordinary slave girl. She barely hesitated before swinging herself over the rail and lowering herself down from the grating. She dangled there for a moment, gauging the distance. Then began to swing herself back and forth to gain momentum.

Hawke, however, didn’t wait a single moment before breaking into a run down the catwalk. Was she crazy? It was at least two stories between the catwalks, and if she missed, she would find nothing but air until she hit something even further down.

Everyone sped up to try and reach her. The security guards were just doing their job, they didn’t want her to fall to her death, and from Hawke’s angle of vision he could see her swing from ‘going to break her legs on the catwalk’ angle to ‘going to be paste on the planet surface’ angle. They all ran as hard as they could, but the security force couldn’t reach her before she let go. She swung herself from the grating and tucked her knees under her arms rolling backwards as she fell. By the time she neared the catwalk, her feet were directly under her again but Hawke couldn’t get to her before she hit the catwalk with a thud.

He knew she had aimed herself right by the time she had descended half way down, but the relief he felt was smothered as he heard her cry out between gritted teeth upon landing.

She landed on her feet, which was unbelievably impressive in itself, but her momentum (and the added gravity couldn’t have helped) drove her to her knees, which then dug her skin deeply into the steel grating. She staggered to get up but couldn’t even rise completely without collapsing with a yelp. She groaned and dragged herself forward a few feet  before she realized Hawke was approaching her.

At the sound of his boots on the grating she looked up and caught his eyes. Hawke was close enough to see the fear and the pain in her face before she tried to claw herself up again to run away from him. To her credit, she did make it to her feet and take a few steps while holding on to the railing before Hawke reached her. He grabbed ahold of her shoulder and she tried to swing an arm around to hit him. However, she couldn’t without letting go of the rail causing her to buckle at the knees again.

Hawke caught the arm meant to strike him in his hand and used it to hold her up and help her support her weight. She looked at him with surprise and as it seemed she wouldn’t try to hit him again, Hawke quickly scanned the catwalks for the quickest way out of this skitter chase.

The guards were stunned for a moment after the girl had leapt, but now they were making their way to the stairs on either side. They would block them in again on this catwalk just like they had done to the girl on the catwalk above.

“Plee-ahs...halp.” A soft voice tore his eyes away from the catwalks above to the tear streaked face in front of him. The poor girl was frightened out of her mind, and obviously in a lot of pain. Hawke chastised himself for forgetting the big picture. She was also worth a lot of money, but only if he could get her out of here.

Hawke took another look at the advancing security personnel above and then a quick glance below. They were on D deck, which was right above C deck, which was where he left the elevator if it hadn’t been called off somewhere else yet. Here was hoping.

Hawke pulled open the case of tension cable on his belt. He wasn’t entirely sure if it was long enough to get all the way down, but it would be close. He tied it off on the grating at his feet and swung himself under the rail to the outside.

“Hurry, hold on to me.”

The girl gave him a blank look.

“C’mon, you just have to hang on to me, the cable will hold us both. I towed a speeder with this once.”

The Twi’lek just shook her head slightly and looked confused.

“You jumped last time, what’s the deal? All you have to do is hang on!”

Hawke motioned with his hands to come and her eyes lit up. She swung herself under the railing gingerly, obviously trying not to bend her legs and stood next to him, waiting expectantly.

“Can you understand me?” He finally asked after waiting for her to grab ahold of him again.

She looked at him again, obviously thinking hard, trying to decipher what he wanted her to do.

“For the love of -- you seriously don’t speak Basic?”

He reached down, grabbed her hand and put it firmly on his shoulder, then slid closer to her and pulled her other arm around his upper chest. She must have understood because she held on tight once she was attached. He dropped down to the grating and let himself dangle off the side, then released his grip and let them fall to the grate below.

The retraction cable let them fall with far more grace as it was only designed to let out at a few inches per second. The cable turned out to be a few feet too short, however,  which wasn’t a big deal for Hawke. He was just going to cut it and absorb the weight of the fall himself. But when the Twi'lek realised they were stuck, she let go of him and fell the last few feet. She wasn’t about to land on her feet again and further injure her knees. She landed squarely on her butt and left arm.

Hawke cut the cable and landed on his feet next to her.

“That wasn’t very smart. C’mon, let’s hurry.”

The girl was struggling to move, let alone stand, and her every effort came through gritted teeth, but she was certainly determined.

Hawke bent down and scooped her up as she was struggling to stand. They would make better time with him doing the running for both of them. He cradled her under her legs and her lower back and made as much of a run as he could for where he had been talking earlier to the Miraluka boy. It wasn’t far off and the guards were two stairways behind them.

When he got to the landing platform, it seemed to be just as he had left it. The boy was gone, and the back hatch of the Glimmer was lowered, but other than that nothing stood out that would hinder him.

He went down the short flight of stairs to the landing pad and ran for the elevator.

“Please be there, please be there.”

He mashed the button for down and the hydraulics whirled into life, but nothing happened. Then, as if it were waiting for dramatic timing, the doors shuttered and parted. Hawke nearly leapt aboard and mashed the down button repeatedly. It was just one level down, but the elevator opened closer to his flight deck than the stairs would have brought him. And hopefully the security personnel wouldn’t know which level he was headed to initially anyway.

The lift doors opened and there was his ship, waiting for him.

“Kylsa, fire it up,” he said into the com on his wrist. “And lower aft ramp.”

The ship roared to life and the aft ramp dropped. All he had to do was make it across the deck.

“Stop! Hold it right there.”

It was the security guard that checked him in. There must have been a general alert or something of the sort. The guard had a blaster trained on him. If he didn’t actually mean business, he at least wanted to look like it.

Hawke hoped for the best, but knew he didn’t have another option.

“Kylsa, suppressive warning fire, all targets.”

Hawke could only imagine the man’s face when the top, belly, and port cannons turned on him and each fired a burst.

“Kylsa, cease fire,” he called out after the one volley. Those cannons were designed to destroy other ships or heavily armored vehicles. The man was at least running for his life, if not deaf and dumb at the moment. It only took a few more strides for Hawke to make it up the ramp and into the belly of the ship.

“Kylsa, get us out of here.”

The ramp closed and the ship was off before Hawke had time to even set the Twi’lek girl down, which made navigating the corridors a bit difficult. He finally made it to the cockpit and buckled her into a seat before doing the same.

“Is anything following us?”

“Only one ship is airborne within atmospheric scanning range. A class one light gunship.”

Hawke turned his chair to the terminal to his left where it’s location was shown, it was near enough he could see it out the window. But it was docking, not pursuing. Hawke watched it for a moment and then began to laugh softly to himself before he leaned back into his seat. The vessel was the Valorscar, Geneb Marhuun’s ship.


End file.
